El-Fasher is the last major city in West Darfur that is still under the control of the Sudan Armed Forces. The city has been facing a massive human crisis as the Rapid Support Forces have been maintaining a siege since mid-2024. Children are dying of hunger as the barricade has completely cut off aid and essential supplies for the blocked population.
The community kitchens that once fed the internally displaced families have shut down or significantly lowered their operations due to a lack of resources. The markets have been exhausted of the basics, including flour and bread, and hungry people are forced to eat peanut oil by-products and animal feed.
Food prices have skyrocketed beyond the reach of most families, causing malnutrition to become widespread.
Doctors and nurses have noted that there is a serious case of malnutrition especially in children and that health institutions are barely able to cope. Medical facilities lack the necessary therapeutic food for patients who are severely malnourished.
One of the doctors, in his cynical tone, said that the kids who are hospitalized are “waiting for their death” because of the side effects of extreme malnutrition.
Although it is said that the military has given the green light to the aid convoys, RSF has yet to give the necessary confirmation for their passage. Humanitarian organizations desperately appeal for a temporary truce so that they can take essential supplies to the people who are trapped.
This crisis is a mirror of Sudan’s national emergency situation in which the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces have been fighting since April 2023, causing millions of people to be displaced.
Darfur is specifically affected by the fight as it is suffering from malnutrition, cholera outbreaks, and has very tightly controlled humanitarian access, thus becoming one of the world’s most severe humanitarian disasters.
